Wild-Looking But Fine

Abbey Theatre Actresses of the 1930s

Ciara O'Dowd

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Paperback

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English

University College Dublin Press
11 October 2024

Dance & Performing arts

Biographies of two actresses reclaim the story of women in theater in 1930s Ireland.

The book explores the lives of Aideen O'Connor and Ria Mooney, two members of the Abbey Theatre Company who performed in Dublin and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The two had radically different backgrounds, ambitions, and creative visions and would pursue very different paths after their time as company members. They were united by one thing: a devotion to theater and Ireland's National Theatre in particular. They came of age in an Ireland desperate to control and restrict women—their sexuality, their professional careers, their independent lives.

Here, Ciara O'Dowd recounts the life stories of women who have been absent from the recorded history of Irish theater. Only limited reporting of the achievements of these women exists, and, except for Ria Mooney, there are no prior written accounts of their lives. Drawing on extensive archival research, O'Dowd shapes the previously unknown material into narrative, bringing their complex stories to life. Rich and informative, these personal stories have much to reveal about the lives of Irish women in the arts during the first half of the twentieth century.

By: Ciara O'Dowd
Imprint: University College Dublin Press
Country of Publication: Ireland
Dimensions: Height: 246mm, Width: 180mm,
ISBN: 9781739086329
ISBN 10: 1739086325
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 11 October 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ciara O'Dowd studied English and Theatre in Trinity College Dublin and University of Galway, where she gained her PhD. In 2016, she received the HD Fellowship in English Literature from Yale University's Beinecke Library. She spent ten years as a theatre assessor and adviser for the Arts Council of Ireland and now works as a consultant in the non-profit and cultural sector. She is an author of the ground-breaking report Gender Counts: An analysis of gender in Irish theatre 2006-15. Her writing on Irish theatre past and present has appeared in journals New Hibernia Review, Critical Stages, Theatre Topics as well as literary magazine Banshee Magazine.

Reviews for Wild-Looking But Fine: Abbey Theatre Actresses of the 1930s

""[O' Dowd's] writing is delicate and meticulously researched, picking up on archival traces to create compelling portraits... The strength of this book is its nuanced understanding of how a life is shaped and bound by the idosyncrasies of its time."" - Ruby Eastwood, The Irish Times. ""This book is an intriguing balance of young women having a high time in a sophisticated milieu far from home, a history of their artistic achievements, by a writer who is enthralled by her subjects."" - David Burke, The Tuam Herald. ""... an exceptional piece of work... O'Dowd draws on forgotten archives, but her act of retrieval goes far deeper. She followed in Aideen's footsteps, sought out family connections and discovered many new documents (some kept safely by friends in a Milk Tray box) which she has assembled into a tender, lyrical and innovative book about female creative endeavour."" - Clodagh Finn, The Irish Examiner.